RootsChat.Com

Update re Victoria marriage cert order: Still no cert view, and no response (even the usual canned acknowledgement) to my e-mail sent via their contact page. A FB friend in Victoria called them, and after 20 minutes on hold reached someone at a service center who didn't know anything about anything. She left all of the details, but has had no response, so today also sent a message. At least she got the canned acknowledgement. And that's where it sits.  They've been given my e-mail address 3 different ways (4 if you count the order form) and still haven't had the courtesy to send me an e-mail and perhaps suggest that they will deal with the problem.   

Update to update: My friend's last effort did the trick. I just got an apology & a link to the cert. Very minimal info --- just names & birthplaces --- but with his birthplace being Birmingham I feel sure that it is he.   

Thanks, Rosball! If I ever get to see that marriage cert, I may know whether it is the right family. Hope I get an e-mail back soon, but I guess I may have to wait until next week. 

   I've just found a report in the New South Wales Police Gazette of 19 Dec 1901 that my relative, Thomas William Beecham (age 23, from Birmingham) was a deserter from HMS Royal Arthur at Lyttleton, NZ. A reward of £3 was offered for his apprehension within 2 years.

  He had deserted from HMS Archer at Wellington, NZ in Sep 1901, and had been captured that same month and returned to the ship. His rank on HMS Archer was given as 2nd class petty officer, while his rank on HMS Royal Arthur was given as AB. Would demotion have been the punishment for the earlier desertion? If he was not apprehended within the 2 years, was the Navy no longer interested in finding him?

   I'm anxious to find out what became of him. I see a Thomas William Beecham on Australian electoral rolls for a number of years. There's a death record in 1941, but the transcription lists the wrong name for the father, and the age is a couple of years off. There are also 2 marriage records on Ancestry, one for Thomas William Beecham to Amelia Gerken in 1908, another for Amelia Gerken to Wm Thos Beecham in 1906. Both show registration # 2470. Could I order a marriage cert by the #, without knowing which year? Would it show father's name & occupation?

   Thanks for any help! This desertion info is the first break in a long-standing brick wall.